Imagine I’m in front of you, talking; there are maximum 30 centimetres between us. You don’t know me, but you’ve paid to see me. This is how I start the show: before you. I look at you and I smile. Tac. I look at you and I smile. Tic. Is it a tic? Every gesture an actor does uncontrollably is a parasite. I look at you and I smile shamelessly. Tac. I smile. Tic? I look at you, tac. Can you feel this dilated time? You can feel the time we perceive on the stage. You are there with me. Either you like it, or hate it. Everything is very intimate. Do you think you are the only one feeling vulnerable in such moments? I do to, and I feel that way from the beginning until… until the applauses start. I open myself before you. And in this very moment, I try to somehow detach.

Acting is in a relentless search for connections to other spheres. The others are more and more defined, divided by categories while theatre tries naively to gather them all together. I think that people directly involved in the theatrical or cinematographical field are the ones feeling the most need of a syncretism between arts, that they could develop in a story, a conversation, a show. If we refer only to the theatrical field, even those shows that work based on constraints by limiting any support from other fields, like those built one Peter Brook’s Empty Space principle, still contain an obvious implication of different architectures. Through this I try to explore the actor-spectator relationship, by being aware of the absence of the scenic space during this reading, which can only offer us an even greater freedom in the imaginary space.

I’m ill. I move slowly. I go backwards. I go with my thoughts. I melt. I want water. I WANT WATER. Somebody’s coming. He gives me. My hands are shaking. I am struggling to control something that apparently needs to remain uncontrolled. I want to manage and drink already but vibration settle harmonically in my left hand and I like it. I taste them, bit by bit. Of course I spill some water. I wasn’t paying attention, what can I do? I think I was. I look at you. I try. I can’t find you. I know very well where you were. I don’t have time to look for you now. I think of you. But I also think about the glass, about the spilled water, about the nausea, where am I on stage? Is there enough light? Can I fool you today, making you think I wanted to drink the water? Can I? I throw it on myself. I can’t tell if you’re surprised. Am I boring you? Can you follow me? Are you looking at all the details in the decor? Have I stalled too long? Am I embarrassing? Am I boring you? Now, why are you coughing? Am I doing this poorly? Am I not credible? Come on! Am I boring you?

Of course accidents happen, when an amateur or a beginning actor forgets about the essential. An actor must be

simultaneously aware of several elements which contribute to his scenic liveliness. Thus, a veracity, a sine-qua-non condition is created in the representation. From being aware of the presence of space, music, light, to that of the surrounding characters, connecting to them, to inner thoughts and everything related to his own character, the actor connects, and then decides to which the character also connects. The most difficult part is finding a balance between the control over the instrument (self + expression methods) and the native, which, in relation to life is spontaneous and doesn’t involve any control over all those things composing it. Control. Chaos.

I am in love. I am fat. It seems that this love will never get out of me. I eat, I go to sleep. I stuff myself, I dream. When I’m hungry again I wake up. I smile shamelessly. I found you. You’ve hit me with your insistent look. You came towards me. I didn’t even have the chance to greet you, to offer you a snack, a coffee, perhaps? You barged in. I winced. You stayed to see what I was doing and I invited you to dance. You’re a bit clumsy, really, and you don’t like to dance. You’d prefer to observe me, to love me from afar. I am more selfish. I don’t want you to try to detach now. Your warmth melts anything else I could feel and crushes me with a kiss that wants to think it shall never leave, that it won’t disappear, that it is there and it shall be, as long as it can fall asleep.

Exploring the play area helps in building the relationships between character-object, character – character, character – spectator. Therefore, many types of relationships are built, from intimacy to tension, the space creating palpable bridges between the experiences of the actors and those of the spectators. Distances between characters influence the actor’s perception, as well as the meetings between actors, respectively between actors and objects. The construction of the scenic space is the ideal place to discover, within a system which is mainly controlled, enclosed, the real effects of our situations in space, which contribute to the translation of self.

Imagine I’ve left. There are maximum 30 sensations remained between us. You’ve met me because you paid with your involvement, and now this is how I end the show. With my absence. You want to look at me. Tac. You want to look at me but you smile. Tic. I stay back here and I smile shamelessly. Tac. I smile. Tic? I feel this contracted time. I also feel that time you perceive from your chair. I am there with you. Either you like it, or you hate it. Everything is very intimate. You break the silence. Only now I start to open myself, without any intermediate, before you. I bow because I want to thank you. Tic. Now I try to detach somehow. Tac.